In his sermon 'Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven,' Pastor Steve Hopkins explores the profoundness of the Lord's Prayer, particularly focusing on the petitions 'Thy Kingdom Come' and 'Thy Will be Done.' Pastor Hopkins explains that Jesus speaks of a divine and everlasting kingdom that rules over all, yet is not submitted to by all. The prayer for God's kingdom to come is essentially a prayer for the advancement of God's rule on earth, recognizing His reign but acknowledging that not everyone submits to it. Pastor Hopkins distinguishes between the Decretive Will of God, which is His sovereign will that always comes to pass, and the Preceptive Will, which is His revealed will through scripture that should guide human actions. He emphasizes that praying for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven means striving for angelic obedience and universal submission to God's will. The sermon highlights the Great Commission's importance, urging believers to spread the gospel and make disciples of all nations. Hopkins uses examples from scripture, like the story of Joseph and the crucifixion of Jesus, to illustrate God's sovereignty and the greater good that can emerge from evil circumstances. The sermon encourages believers to pray fervently for the destruction of evil and the advancement of righteousness, ultimately aiming for a worldwide revival where God's will is realized in every nation.

Welcome back to Burnet Bible Church. This week, Pastor Hopkins will continue his series on the Lord's Prayer. Good morning once again. Turn with me once again in your Bibles to the book of Matthew, chapter 6, where we will be reading verses 9 and 10. And if you would, stand with me for the public reading of the Word of the Lord.

After this manner, therefore, pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Let's pray. Our dear Father, what a privilege it is to call you Father. What a joy above all earthly joys to know that we are numbered among the sons and daughters of the Living God.

Father, we pray that your name would be hallowed in this assembly today and that your spirit would work mightily in every heart and that you might receive glory and honor as your people are built up in the faith of Christ, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's be seated. In review, as always, in our last session, we looked at the second petition of the Lord's Prayer, Thy Kingdom Come. And I said that we live in a nation where there is this idea of government where there is no sovereign.

And the people of this nation tend to be repulsed by the notion of a monarch. And we like to say that we're a government of the people by the people, and that's fine. But we need to understand that there is no kingdom where there is no king. How many remember that? But Jesus speaks of a kingdom when he instructs his disciples how to pray.

He speaks of a kingdom. And when he speaks of that kingdom, He's not talking about some mere kingdom of men on earth, or some earthly political monarchy that may rise or wane or appear for a time and then vanish from the pages of history, but he speaks of an everlasting kingdom that rules over all, and a king, a King capital K that rules the entire world and all its inhabitants and we look at several passages of scripture Psalm chapter 47 verse 7 says God is king of all the earth and Psalm 147 verse 13 says thy kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy dominion endure throughout all generations and Psalm 103 19 says the Lord has prepared His throne and the heavens and his kingdom rules over all." And then I said, you know, you read those passages and you think, well, if God's king over all the earth, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, his kingdom rules over all, then why in the world would Jesus say, pray, thy kingdom come? And I said, the short answer is that we are praying that God's kingdom which rules over all might be submitted to by all.

That his kingdom that rules over all might rule in all Amen, because the fact of the matter is everyone is insane Everyone on the earth hasn't heard the gospel Everyone on the face of the earth is not submitting to the King of the universe and so we pray and when we pray thy kingdom come we need to understand that what we're praying for is the advancement of the kingdom of God on earth. God as King sovereignly rules over all, but His reign is not recognized and submitted to by all. And so we pray. God's kingdom has come. You remember I said last week, God's kingdom has come with the coming of Jesus.

But there are those who are not yet His willing subjects. And so we pray, thy kingdom come. Remember from our session last week I cited Luke chapter 11 and verse 20 where Jesus told the Jewish leaders, If I with the finger of God, remember, if I with the finger of God cast out devils, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. If I with the finger of God, and he did, with the finger of God cast out devils, then you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the kingdom of God has come upon you. The kingdom of God has come with Jesus, and it's in the early stages of advance at that time.

And then 40 days after Jesus' resurrection from the dead, just before His ascension to heaven, Jesus told His remaining 11 disciples, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Go. And this is so important. This is so important because this is the great commission. And the great commission was not limited to the disciples, the 11 disciples, but is also the commission that we are also committed to, that is also given to us as believers.

We are to go, as Jesus told them, into all the world for this reason, because all power, or all authority as the word means, is given unto me in heaven and earth. You also go. On my authority, you go. You now have authority to go into all the world go into all the world I'm commissioning you your authority to go rest upon my authority now go and teach all nations Go and make disciples of all nations all of you and make disciples of all nations from every people group on the face of the earth. When we pray, thy kingdom come, we're praying that God will bless that work which he commands his disciples to carry out in all the world.

When we pray, thy kingdom come, we're praying in accord with the expressed will of God that disciples be made in every nation on earth through the preaching of the gospel. When we pray, thy kingdom come, We're praying that God might bring all men everywhere to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. That's what we're praying for. When we pray, thy kingdom come, we're praying for the demolishing of Satanic strongholds and the bringing down of every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God on the face of the earth. When we pray, thy kingdom come, we're praying that God might reduce the whole world under his sway.

We're praying that God might subdue all pride on the face of the earth. We're praying that God might lay prostrate the whole of the human race, quoting John Calvin. We're praying that God might do this by constraining men to obey him in the preaching of the gospel, by which he establishes his throne on the earth, by regenerating his people to a new life, and inviting them to the hope of salvation." When we pray, thy kingdom come, we're praying for nothing less than worldwide revival, And that the reign of Christ will be realized in every nation on earth through the preaching of the gospel. When we pray, thy kingdom come, we're praying that every enemy of the gospel will be subdued. Amen?

That Satan's dominion will be destroyed. And Christ exalted as both Lord and Savior overall. How many are praying like that? How many are praying like that? That's straight out of the Puritans handbook.

That's the way the Puritans prayed. Back when Christianity was sweeping the nations of Europe. They prayed for the dominion of Satan to be destroyed. They prayed for Christ to be exalted as Lord and Savior over all, over all, over all the governments of the earth, over every nation and every inhabitant on earth. They prayed for the universal reign of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords through the preaching of the gospel.

They prayed that the Word of God would fill, as the Word of God says, would fill the earth even as The oceans are filled with water. That's the kind of praying that the Puritans pray. You know what? God did mighty things during the Puritan era. They prayed that the reign of Christ would be realized in every nation on the earth through the preaching of the gospel for worldwide revival.

Thy Kingdom Come is a prayer for Jesus to reign as king, and Jesus reigns as king only where the gospel is preached and the hearts of men are regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. I ended our session last week saying we need to be praying that God raises up elders and pastors and street preachers and evangelists and publishers of the gospel from this little assembly. We need to be praying for that. Churches used to pray for these kinds of things. But also that we have to acknowledge that everyone isn't called into full-time ministry, right?

But we do need to be praying that God will raise up ministers from within our own congregation. You know what I've been praying for? I've been praying for a George Whitefield from this congregation. I said, well that's pretty high. Anyone ever read a biography or about George Whitefield?

How many of you read one? I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. You want to get excited? Read a biography of George Whitefield.

Wow. Remember I also said, everyone isn't called a full-time ministry, but everybody can do something. We looked at Legion, the wild man from the tombs in Mark chapter 5. Remember? How Jesus cast legion of demons out of him and then put this guy in his right mind.

He was a guy running through the countryside, cutting himself with stones, covered with blood, running all over the place, screaming, wild man. No telling what happened to this guy when he was a boy. No telling what kind of abuse he went through. No telling, right? I just, I would love to see a movie, you know, made about Legion.

Just call it Legion, you know. Cover him as best you can. But God used him in a powerful way. When Jesus casts out the demons out of Legion, puts them in his right mind, and cleans him up, and he's sitting at the feet of Jesus, all Legion wants to do is go Jesus wherever Jesus is. He wants to be where he's at.

But Jesus says, no. I want you to go back into your community and I want you to give your testimony to your old friends. They know they're going to see the contrast. They're going to see what happened. I want Jesus to go back.

Jesus said, Go back and tell your old friends and your family members, go back to the city where you came out of and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you. Go give them your testimony." And I said, every one of us can do that, you know? And one of the ladies of the church out on the porch here said, you know, you can argue with Christians when they give you the gospel. People do it all the time. I don't believe this, I don't believe that, I don't believe what you're saying, I don't believe about Jesus, but they can't argue with your testimony.

I said, yeah, that's right. They can't say that that you didn't experience what you experienced. So go and give them your testimony. That's why testimonies are so powerful. And so we pick up with the second half of verse 10 this morning, the third petition of the Lord's Prayer is the two aspects of the will of God in Scripture.

So we're gonna have a little bit of teaching here, which is why we brought out the the easel, which this is not exactly an easel but it's it's close to one. The two aspects of the will of God in Scripture. Because just as there is a sense in which the kingdom of God rules over all, and yet the kingdom of God is not submitted to by all, so we pray that kingdom come, there's a sense in which God's will is done on earth and There is a sense in which we were to pray that his will which is not being done may be done on earth Theologians refer to these two aspects of the will of God, if you're taking notes, as the Decretive Will of God and the Preceptive Will of God. The Decretive Will of God, simply put, is this. Whatever God decrees, comes to pass.

So we'll put here, God's decrees. Whatever God decrees, comes to pass. Whatever God decrees comes to pass. Whatever God decrees comes to pass. God does whatever He pleases.

In Psalm 135 verse 6 we read, whatever the Lord pleased, that did He in heaven and on earth. The New King James Version and ESV render it, Whatever the Lord pleases, He does. God does what He wants to do, okay? Psalm 115 and verse 3 says, Our God is in the heavens, He hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Our God is in the heavens.

He has done whatsoever he hath pleased. This is the decreed of will of God. God brings to pass by His decree whatsoever He pleases. Do you believe that? That's what the Scripture teaches.

In God's providence by His, what is also called His sovereign Effectual, effectual means what God brings about, He brings about what he intends to bring about, will, he ordains all things whatsoever comes to pass. All of the old Reformed confessions taught this. You pull out your Trinity hymnal Baptist edition and you look at the decrees of God and you can read about it in the 1689 Baptist Confession in the back of our hymnals. All the old Reformed Confessions taught this, including our 1689 Baptist Confession. Christians used to understand this, but they don't anymore.

Many modern day Christians stumble over this because they reason like the, they've become to reason like the enemies of Christianity. How do they reason? You can go to churches all around this area, all over Austin, all over the United States, all around the world, and they'll reason just like the heathen. They'll reason just like the humanists, just like the critics of Christianity, just like the blasphemers who blaspheme God and blaspheme Christianity, and they'll say, if God is good, then He can't permit evil. A good God can't permit anything evil.

Really? God's sovereign. He can do whatever He wants. He does whatever He pleases. Okay?

And they'll say, because a good God would not permit anyone to do evil. Really? You get to judge God, you're on the judgment throne and God is judged by you? Or they'll say, if he's good, if God is good, how many have heard this? And God doesn't stop evil, then he must be impotent.

He's impotent because he doesn't stop evil. Those are the ways that the humanists reason, and that's the way they attack Christianity, and that's the way many Christians in America and around the world reason today the same way as the humanists. But the performers understood from Scripture that God ordains all things that come to pass, yes, even evil. Ouch. Though he is not the author of evil.

He is not the author of evil. He does not do evil. God cannot be tempted, neither does he tempt. God doesn't do evil, neither does he tempt anyone to do evil, James 1.13. Right?

James 1.13, God can't be tempted, He doesn't tempt anyone, He doesn't do evil, He doesn't tempt anyone to do evil, evil comes from man. But he ordains all things, even evil, in this sense, in the sense that though he has the power to stop it, he chooses not to stop all evil. Could God stop every act of evil that's taking place in the world? Yes, he could. Does he stop all acts of evil in the world?

No, he does not. Does he have the right to do what he wants to do? Yes, he does. Does he have to stop every act of evil that's taking place in the world? No, he does not.

He has his own predetermined purposes in the earth for allowing evil to go forth for his own good purposes and no one on earth can question it. He's working out his plan for greater good in the world And I'll give you a for instance or two for instances from Scripture. God's decreed of will was being carried out when Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery. Could God have stopped Joseph's brothers from selling him into slavery? Great evil, yes.

The Word says that they hurt his ankles with the fetters. Yes, could God have stopped that pain? Can you imagine the sorrow, the sadness? He's thrown down into a pit, then his brothers take him and they sell him to the slave traders, they sell him into slavery. Awful, awful.

God could have stopped it, but he let it go. Then he's sold to slavery, he ends up being a slave, he's in Potiphar's house, and Potiphar's wife goes after him sexually. And Potiphar's wife falsely accuses him because he won't submit to her alluring her temptations and her advances. She does what? She casts herself upon him.

He runs. He flees the temptation. He flees fornication. She grabs his coat. And what does she do?

She falsely accuses him of rape. And he goes to prison. Could God have stopped that? Absolutely God could have stopped that evil. The humanists and many Christians, they would say, God should have stopped that, he should have stopped that evil from taking place.

False accusations, wrong. God had better purposes in mind. God could have stopped that evil, the evil that was being done to Joseph, but he did not. Joseph would later tell his brothers in Genesis chapter 15 verse 20, you need to jot down this in your notes. He tells his brothers, remember what happens after his brothers come in and they don't know what's going on?

He's now been elevated to the head of state, just under the head of state. And his brothers are there, and he could have had his brothers executed for what they had done to him. He forgives them. He forgives them and he says, as for you, once he reveals his identity to his brothers, and his brothers are trembling and his brothers are thinking, oh what have we done, and his brothers are repenting, he says, as for you, you thought evil, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good." God meant what for good? Your evil.

God meant it. The evil you were doing, God meant it for good. To bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive." God ordained it for good, though God was not the author of their evil, okay? And of course, the ultimate evil was done to who? In all of history, who was the ultimate evil done to?

God's own Son, Jesus, right? And what for? For the ultimate good. For the ultimate good. In Acts chapter 2 and verse 23, Peter says to the Jews, Him, that is Jesus, being delivered by the determinate counsel of God.

By the determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God. God foreknew it and God determined it ahead of time. He said, you've taken it by wicked hands of crucified and slain him. Your wicked hands, God was not the author of their evil, took Jesus and crucified him, and look what it says, God foreknew it and delivered Jesus to them by His determinate counsel. And again, for the greater good, the greatest good ever done, from the greatest evil ever done to save many people alive, to save many people from eternal damnation.

This is the Decretive Will of God who ordains all things whatsoever comes to pass. The other aspect of the will of God is the preceptive will of God, which has to do with God's precept. Very simply, I like to call this the preceptive will of God, the revealed will of God. So move over here, the preceptive will of God, the revealed will of God, that will of God which God reveals to us in His Word. What God reveals to us in His Word through His precepts, through His precepts, the preceptive will of God, through His commandments.

Is everyone getting that? The way we know God's will on earth is by the revelation of His Word. The way we know what is pleasing to God and what is not pleasing to God is through the revelation of Scripture, through the precepts or commands God has given us in Scripture. When Jesus says to pray, thy will be done in earth, we're praying for God's will to be done on earth as His will is revealed to us in the Bible. Everyone got that?

As his will is revealed to us in the Bible. Now, his word revealed to us in the Bible addresses every area of life, every aspect of how we live on earth. You understand? Everything that takes place on earth is not in accord with God's will as it's revealed in the scripture, right? No.

Is the United States government carrying out the will of God on earth today as God has revealed to man that he would have his will to be carried out by governments of men on earth? No. Is the U.S. Government trying really hard to do the will of God on earth as God has revealed it in scripture? No.

When you pray, when you pray, this is one of the things you can pray. Pray, our Father, we desire that your will be carried out on earth in our nation as you have revealed in your word that nations are to be governed on earth. Oh God, thy will be done on earth. We're going to get to the second part in a moment. Father, we want our country to be governed according to your precepts, according to your preceptive will, as is revealed in your Word.

But not just our nation, because God's Word addresses every area of life, how we live as husbands and wives. How we live as husbands and wives. God, Thy will be done on earth in our marriage. To pray a long time about that. People will say, I go to God in prayer, I go to God, that secret place of prayer, and after a few minutes, I'm out of words.

I don't have anything left to pray for. Not if you're praying through the Lord's Prayer. If you're praying through the elements of the Lord's Prayer, you need to set your alarm clock because you're going to be late for work. How we live as husbands and wives, how we raise our children, how we conduct our businesses, how we conduct ourselves in the workplace, our employer-employee relations, how we conduct commerce, agriculture, the arts, sciences, education, everything. Thy will be done on earth, oh God.

We really need to have a universal mindset when we pray thy will be done on earth. But it needs to begin with ourselves and our own homes, our own personal lives. We need to be praying, oh God, let there be no opposition to your will or reluctance to carry out your will in my life, under my roof, in my marriage, in my home. May your will as revealed in the Bible, your preceptive will be done in my life, in my home, in my marriage, in my family, yes in my workplace, yes in our church, Yes in our community and yes in the whole world. Oh God Thy will be done on earth, but now see how Jesus qualifies This third petition of the Lord's Prayer.

He does not say only thy will be done in earth But I will be done in earth as it is in heaven When we pray thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven When we pray thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven We are praying that God's perfect will as it is revealed in the pages of scripture might be carried out on earth By all men everywhere just as His will is done in heaven, it's qualified. And I want to ask you a question. How do you suppose the will of God is done in heaven? How is the will of God carried out by the host of heaven? How is the will of God carried out in heaven by the angels of heaven?

Turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 103 and verse 20. Let's look for a quick answer here. Psalm 103 and verse 20. Here's a quick answer to the question, how is the will of God carried out in heaven by the angels of heaven? Bless the Lord ye his angels that excel in strength, that do His commandments.

They do His commandments. It doesn't say they try to. It says they do them. Harkening unto the voice of His word. Harkening unto the voice of His word.

It doesn't say they try to. It says they hearken unto the voice of his word. Angels carry out God's word perfectly in heaven. We read of no rebellion in heaven since the third of the stars of heaven fell in the rebellion of Lucifer and became demons. We read of no rebellion since that time.

The host of heaven do his commandments. The angels hearken to the voice of his word. When we pray thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven, we're praying that all mankind, beginning with ourselves, will keep the commandments of God and hearken unto the voice of his word with angelic obedience, angelic type obedience. Calvin comments here that when we pray that it will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we're praying that all creatures may obey God, quote, without opposition and without reluctance for as God has the angels constantly ready to execute His commands, So we desire that all men may have their wills formed to such harmony with the righteousness of God, that they may bend in whatever direction he shall employ. It's a prayer that God might remove all the obstinacy of men, beginning with us, Which rises in unceasing rebellion against him and may render them gentle and submissive That they May not wish or desire anything, but what pleases them.

Oh God That's our prayer for ourselves for our neighbors for everyone in the face of the earth We might not wish we might not wish or desire anything, but what pleases you and meets with your approval Endquote I was thinking about these five words as it is in heaven, thinking about how angels do God's will. The first thing that came to mind was willingly. Angels eagerly, willingly desire to do God's will. They do God's will willingly, not reluctantly. The will of angels is in harmony with the will of God.

That's the way ours is to be. The angels do as well cheerfully, right? Cheerfully, not regretfully or whatever or un-cheerfully. They do it joyfully. They do as well immediately.

They do it instantaneously when his command is given. They do it zealously. And we should also, and so should every creature on earth beginning with us. And Jesus says we're to pray to that end. And then of course there's the glorified saints in heaven.

Have you ever thought about that? That struck me. There's the glorified saints in heaven. There's Abraham. There's all those that have died and gone to heaven.

All the New Testament saints. To be absent from the body is to be what? Present with the Lord. We should do God's will gratefully on earth as the saints do His will gratefully in heaven. They're living in gratefulness continually.

In gratefulness. We're going to be, we're going to be, when we're in heaven, I'll tell you what, gratefulness is going to be one of the number one things. We'll be grateful. Right. Oh, Lord.

Grateful, Obedient. Oh, Lord. All we want to do is just Gratefully obey Him. Why? Because Jesus died for our sins and rose again the third day.

He saved us from our sins. He delivered us from the wrath that come. All we're going to want to do is just serve Him, cheerfully, joyfully, Instantly, gratefully. Well, we should be serving Him gratefully on heaven. When you think about it, to the extent that God's will is done on earth, men have a little taste of heaven on earth.

We got a little bit of a taste of heaven on earth. A little bit of a taste of heaven on earth. A little bit of a taste of heaven on earth. You know, some might object and say, well, aren't we praying for something that we can't and never realize in this life if we're praying thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We're never gonna realize this kind of full obedience to God on earth by men in this life.

Aren't we praying for something that can never be? To which I would respond, would we rather set the goal somewhere south of heaven? A few inches closer to hell, hell maybe. The goal of the Christian is to be conformed more and more to the image of Christ day by day, right? Are we not to love our neighbors as ourselves?

Do we not want everyone to have that blessing? Should we desire anything less for our neighbors than we desire for ourselves and our own families? Of course, the best answer is we should pray it because Jesus commands us to pray in this way He commands us to pray in this way. Oh There's so much to pray for so much to pray for We're to pray They will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We pray this, we're praying for the destruction of every evil force on earth.

There's so much evil in the world. Is it there? Oh, when you think of the things that are being done to children, the things that are being told to children, oh God, oh Lord. Bring about the destruction of every force, evil force on earth that is set in opposition to your express will, oh God. Oh God, there's so much to pray for.

Oh God, prosper every person and entity on earth that's carrying out your will. Oh God, bring down everything that is rising in rebellion against you God and your kingdom in this world. Bring it down, oh God. Oh God, prosper every cause of righteousness. Advance every cause of righteousness in the world, oh God.

Oh Lord, may your will be, cause your will to be submitted to universally, oh God. Oh God, may the light of the gospel enlighten all the world, oh God, and extinguish the darkness of ignorance and unbelief. Oh Lord, oh Lord, there's so much that we have to pray for when we pray. Thy will be done, thy will be done, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And let's pray as we close.

Our Father, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father. Jesus prayed, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Thine will be done, but Thine be done. And we thank You, Father, that Jesus always did Your will. We thank You, Father, that Jesus always did your will.

We thank you father that Jesus Jesus drank the cup of the wrath of God in our place. We thank you father that Jesus willingly went to the cross We thank you Father that Jesus willingly bore our sins and carried our sorrows. We thank you Father that our filthy robes of our sin and our unrighteousness was taken from us, from off of us and placed on Jesus and atone for at the cross and his perfect robes of his obedience, his righteousness, cover us now who are trusting in him alone, Him alone for our salvation. We thank you, Father, for the grace that you have given us to repent and believe, for salvation is a grace from heaven. It is a gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

Oh God, as we approach this table set apart from every other table, help us to come once again with grateful hearts, with thankful hearts, As we approach this thank offering, as we eat of that bread and drink of that cup showing Christ's death for us, as we eat of that bread and drink of that cup showing Jesus' death for us, Proclaim unto all, Jesus died for me. For we ask it in Jesus' holy name. Amen.